The exhibition La belleza del cerebro: los dibujos de Santiago Ramón y Cajal (The beauty of the brain: the drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal) arrives for the first time in Navarra, after two years of being exhibited in different centers in France and the USA. It consists of 36 engravings loaned by the high school Cajal-CSIC and made by the Nobel Prize winner in Medicine himself to support his research on neurons.

This sample, organized by the Science Museum of the University of Navarra, will be inaugurated on May 17, on the occasion of International Museum Day, which is celebrated on May 18, and will be open and free of charge at the Sciences Building of the academic center until the end of June.

As explained by the neuroscientist of the Cima José Luis Lanciego, Ramón y Cajal is recognized worldwide as the pioneer of Modern Neuroscience for his "Neuronal Doctrine" (in which he described for the first time the cells of the brain) or for the "Law of dynamic polarization of the neuron", as well as for his programs of study of regeneration of the central nervous system.

"But what is really remarkable about him," he stresses, "is that he was a great observer. From his drawings and tissue preparations, he was able to imagine that neurons are individual cells (neuronal theory) and that information accesses them through extensions called dendrites, information that is transmitted by the axon to the neuron". These observations, he explains, were confirmed decades later with the advent of the electron microscope and electrophysiology techniques. "His findings are still fully valid," the scientist emphasizes.

Science and Art

Santiago Ramón y Cajal's research at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was completely groundbreaking. His drawings, moreover, were characterized by a high realism and a very high quality of pictorial technique. "Most of his preparations are stainings with argentic impregnation techniques, known as "Golgi's method" in honor of the Italian neuroscientist Camilo Golgi, with whom Ramón y Cajal shared the award Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1906. It was, in fact, the first time that a shared award Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded", explains researcher of the University of Navarra.

"In addition to being a scientist, Ramón y Cajal, born in Petilla de Aragón in 1852, was a complete artist, in the broad sense of the word, due to his facet as a draftsman and his development of color photography. And a profuse writer of novels and essay", emphasizes Dr. Lanciego.

The exhibition -which has counted on Cloister's partnership and the students of Master's Degree in Curatorial Studies Aurelia Alemán, Teresa Reina and María Díaz Banet- is part of the activities organized by the Science Museum on the occasion of International Museum Day. Among them, free guided tours of its collections on Friday, May 17, for which it is possible to register through its website.